The year in beer

What a year it’s been in beer. I’d go as far as saying its the most historic 52 beer weeks since the end of the six o’clock swill and the year they allowed it to be sold in supermarkets. Here are some random thoughts:

sparked a cacophony of opinion, ranging from accusations of soul selling and suggested product bans to giving thanks that Emerson’s will be more widely available now that it’s in Lion-owned bars. I’m in the camp that will continue to drink Emerson’s because it’s damn good beer (and please God, let it stay that way).

Emerson’s sale to Lion

Moa listing on the stock exchange

and producing a ridiculously sexist prospectus, which they could probably argue was trying to be ironic, was another huge news story. The prospectus made me want to do anything but have a ‘‘man-moment’’, though it worked for some people, as the initial share offer was oversubscribed.

Of course, I couldn’t talk about the year without mentioning my book, the first history of New Zealand brewing in almost 20 years. If you haven’t read it, make sure you get a copy for your holiday entertainment!

After last year’s Radler dispute, things just got sillier this year when distributor Hancocks tried to trademark the term growler, for a reuseable bottle of the flagon variety.

As well as trademark claims, there were also dubious claims made on labels about either the product or the company. The king of taking the piss out of all this is Joseph Wood of Liberty Brewing, whose Facebook page is full of great memes around

Beer Nation,

trademark

would-be trademarks and slogans, including ‘‘Liberty Brewing Co – We invented beer’’.

Another trend of 2012 has been the rise of

big breweries fishing in the craft brewery pond.

On top of the Emerson’s purchase, Lion has introduced its Crafty Beggars range, with a slogan so demeaning to artisan brewers it’s not worth repeating.

Boundary Road

seems to put out a new beer every other week and continues its faux craft marketing, somewhat successfully. Some of the products are OK, but I’d rather spend my money on something genuinely boutique.

Meanwhile,

DB Breweries relaunched Monteith’s

and also has smaller operations like Black Dog and 1010 Brewing. Again, I’m more likely to go to where the flavour is.

These previous three paragraphs will be fuel to the fire of my critic – yes, I have just the one that I know of – who wrote recently to accuse me of working from the general position of ‘‘craft beer good, commercial beer bad’’ and continually launching ‘‘scathing attacks’’ on big breweries.

This is not strictly true . . . oh, OK, it’s probably true but if I’m guilty of anything on these pages it’s veering towards interesting, flavoursome beers created by imaginative, daring brewers, and turning a critical eye on the marketing tricks played by the cashed-up purveyors of bland, uniform beers.

This column is about a journey in beer and I make no apologies for taking the more interesting road.